As a marketer, a consumer and a chick, there are brands that I am more drawn to and have a higher affinity towards vs. others. For those of you who have been with me for a while (confession – I don’t know the grammatically proper way to use “a while” vs. “awhile” so I just wing it and take the 50% chance I am accurate and hope you guys don’t think I am an idiot if I do screw up), you could probably name a few brands that I love. For example, J Crew. Ahhh, J Crew. The colors, the patterns, the jewelry, the global influence. Or, Jayson Home. And certain restaurants, like NIU sushi in Chicago (sorry, but I am married to a Japanese dude so I feel I carry enough weight to state that they have the best cuts of sushi in the city). Or Balthazar in NYC. And travel. Well, ahem, I am clearly loyal to Starwood Hotels. And from an airline perspective, American Airlines has 100% of my business unless they don’t fly where I am going. And if that’s the case, I usually will not go to that destination. Seriously. In the marketing world we call this loyalty beyond reason.

Anyways, another brand I have been very loyal to for about eight years now is Bliss Spa. Many of my friends and family can attest to this as now, they are, too, Bliss loyalists. And while I am not a spa connoisseur, I have been to my fair share of spas around the world and Bliss is number one for me. So after a pretty rough few weeks, I decided to use up my gift cards, take the day off of work and be blissed away! And that’s exactly what I did. For a whopping six hours, I received a 75 minute blissage massage, I ate three brownies, I read Vanity Fair, I had a 60 minute fabulous facial, I drank hot tea and ate cheese, crackers and two more brownies, I took a steam shower, I received a hot cream manicure, I watched HGTV and finally, my feet received the fabulous feet pedicure. Then I snuck back in for two more brownies before I finally left. This is no joke. And the best part is my bill was $17 total as I had a bunch of gift cards! #spoiled #blissbrownies

So, why do I love Bliss? Let me give you 5 good reasons.

Their branding. It’s clever, memorable and different from the typical “let’s put plants and a hot stone massage with cursive type in an ad like the rest of the free spa world” spa branding. Go to their site. Sign up for their emails. Go to the spa. You will see what I mean. I mean, how cute is this chick?!

Their brownies. Now, let me be clear here. The brownies don’t exist in every Bliss spa, but, they exist at the Bliss in Chicago at the W Lakeshore Hotel and they are like chocolatey chip delicious crack. They cut them into mini bite size delights which makes you feel okay having a couple but I usually have like 6-7 of them which probably equals 3 whole brownies and guess what? I don’t care. They are worth every single calorie.

The locations. They are in almost all major cities in the U.S. (Boston, Chicago, South Beach, Atlanta, Dallas, LA, NYC, San Fran and the list goes on) which makes it super-duper convenient, tempting but also comfortable and you know what you will get.

Their treatments. This speaks for itself. And it includes their products. I have never (literally, never) left Bliss without my expectations being met or exceeded and in most cases, they are exceeded. I’ve done facials, massages, manicures, pedicures and I have yet to walk away less than pleased. And relaxed. And happy. And I do own some of their daily products like lotions and washes and they are top-notch.

The ambiance. It’s not stuffy or pretentious. It’s comfortable and relaxing. It’s energetic (but not like a toddler energetic, more like a classy but not pretentious spa energetic). The playlists rock (not literally). I want all the songs. I ask every time and they can’t give the playlist to me because it comes from an iPod from their corporate offices (no joke…and I sort of think that’s funny and cool to go old school iPod on us). The smells are sensational. The Bliss smell. Anyone who has been there knows exactly what I am talking about. It’s this lemony, sage, fresh ridiculously awesome smell. Oh and they have the best eucalyptus steam shower in. the. world. (Because there is such high competition for eucalyptus steam showers out there.)

Are you ready to go to Bliss now? Have I convinced you? Well, I try to treat myself 3-4 times a year and today’s six hours of Bliss were just what the doctor ordered and would recommend some pampering for you as well!